I remember when everyone was saying that Yao's jump shot was gone, when he wasn't taking or making them much. JVG was blamed for it about a year ago, but Yao started taking and making it very efficiently shortly after. Yao's knee probably is in the back of his mind, and he's not wanting to risk anything until it's re-evaluated. He'll bring his full repertoir soon.
He's been out for a couple of months, and is only back since a week. Let's wait a little more until we start to get worried, shall we ?
Yea, let him get back to 100% and hopefully get that dang knee brace off before the playoffs. I have shotty knees and have had to wear braces and it makes me feel almost robotic. I think the brace hampers him the most in trying to do quick moves especially with it on his "spin" leg.
I'm still going with my original 10-12(15max) games for Yao to be in complete rhythm. Nothing to worry about at all.
He tried the spin move at least one time in this game against the Clippers but I think Kaman stopped it by stripping him of the ball.
I posted this in the game thread, because I thought someone mentioned something there about Yao's lack of mobility in his moves: "For those who have never had a serious knee injury, spin moves, especially with pressure on your injured leg are both difficult as well as a little scary, even if your head tells you that you're 100%, once you're out there, it's a completely different story!!!" So, I think Yao will eventually be not only OK, but may well be the MVP next year. All he needs is one completely injury-free year. I am a little fearful that with his yearly commitment to China-Ball, that he's going to continue to suffer nagging foot/leg injuries because he's so big and gets pounded on so much by EVERYBODY on the other team with absolutley NO RESPECT from the REFS!!! In the interim, it's more about physical stamina, and fighting fatigue. Once he get's to about 95% of his former strength, Yao will be back to making all of his customary and brilliant moves!!
I saw him do the spin against orlando, but he got fouled from behind by Dwight Howard. I also think he pulled it off successfully against Darko, but I'm not sure. Give him time, I think he's just trying to get into a groove before he tries the more challenging moves. It took Kobe a few games to start using his more aggressive moves after he came back from knee surgery. I don't blame guys for being cautious. EDIT: Also, anyone else notice that Yao can hit turnaround jumpers with guys in his face at a pretty good clip, but he tends to miss his wide open shots? You'd think his mid-range would be automatic. I guess he's not used to being open?
At least Yao is duty free to China national team this year, and 2008 is far too important to China of course.
Spin moves? Give the dude time to get his wind. Don't worry about spin moves. It'll come. Like Rockets-R-Us said, it's real hard on your knees.
i have it on a solid inside source that yao had knee surgery and was actually sidelined for 2.5 months; and apparently, he just rejoined the team a week ago... take it FWIW.
Yao's got like 3-4 more games before he can take that brace off right? I'd think the reasons that he is not doing the move more is 1) Teams scouting him and knowing the spin move. 2) His knee not being as fast. 3) he hasn't played enough games for us to conclude that he's not using it. Remember he didn't use it that often before, it was more like once or twice a game. I remember him trying it once this game and once during the game he got 37.
